


Ben and Leslie, 2024

by smallestpark



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-18 19:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12394521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallestpark/pseuds/smallestpark
Summary: This piece follows Ben and Leslie and their children Wesley, Stephen and Sonia throughout the year 2024.





	1. January, 2024

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie and Ben's children are introduced. Leslie gets a new job.

It’s snowing outside. Leslie and Ben are in bed, cuddling. The fire in their bedroom is lit, illuminating the Pawnee poster on the wall that Leslie had made a few weeks ago. We’re in their adorable house in Benning Heights, a neighborhood in southeast Washington, D.C. The house is just a few blocks away from Hickey Run, a tributary stream of the Anacostia River, where Leslie and Ben often go to sit on a bench and make out, just because Hickey Run has that name and because they love making out with each other. They have just moved into the house from the more temporary apartment downtown.

Leslie was elected Acting Director of the National Park Service in November 2023, a few months ago, and starts her new job today.

A couple of years back, Ben started his restaurant ”The Low-Cal Calzone Zone” in the heart of Indianapolis. With the recent move to D.C., Ben has taken the restaurant with him. ”The Low-Cal Calzone Zone” serves healthy calzones with different fillings to a reasonable price. Ben’s main job is to do the books, which he loves, but he also occasionally steps in to make some calzones. The restaurant only serves calzones, apart from Ben’s Famous Chicken Soup, which he once made for Leslie when she was sick in the beginning of their relationship. Leslie has in recent years warmed to the idea of calzones, but has always been honest with him about the fact that she prefers ordinary pizza. Nevertheless, she is very supportive of his restaurant business.

It’s morning, 5 AM. Leslie woke Ben up a few minutes ago to kiss him, which to his credit didn’t annoy him even though it’s so early in the morning. After all, Ben knows that Leslie rarely sleeps more than five or six hours a night, always eager to start the day.

Ben and Leslie’s triplets Wesley, Stephen and Sonia are 8 years old.

Wesley is an adorable, self-proclaimed nerd who likes paleontology and collects dinosaur figurines. He wears glasses and loves fantasy books. He is, apart from his father, the only one in the Knope-Wyatt family who likes calzones.

Stephen plays a little bit of soccer and likes to play catch with his father using his grandfather’s old baseball mit. He is a little bit more popular at school than Wesley is, but always nice to his brother. He likes fantasy movies, but doesn’t really like watching them with his brother because Wesley always points out differences between the movies and the books they’re based on, which annoys Stephen. He is, apart from his father, the only one in the Knope-Wyatt family who is great at math.

Sonia is relentless and energetic like her mother, although maybe slightly more shy. She loves Christmas and is currently a little bit bummed that it just ended. Sonia never liked Barbie dolls when she was younger. She has an interest in politics but wants to be a journalist. She is, apart from her mother, the only one in the Knope-Wyatt family who refuses to get up later than 6 AM every morning.

Being January in D.C., the streets are covered in snow and the air is bitingly cold. In their cozy bedroom in their sweet house on their busy street, Leslie and Ben are now drinking as Leslie calls it, ”Ann’s signature drink,” which is coffee with whipped cream on top. They’re in bed, and Leslie considers chugging her coffee and jumping him. But she decides it’s a bit early in the morning for sex and makes a mental note to jump him later. Around 6 AM, she decides to get up and shower, start the day. Ben follows her into the bathroom to brush his teeth. The bathroom starts to smell rosy as Leslie lathers her hair with shampoo.

After they’ve woken the kids up, Leslie leaves for her first day at her new job as Director. She’s very proud to have come this far. The day starts out busy, with a lot for her to be filled in on and updated about. Leslie flies through the day, very happy and filled with energy. She’s so excited about her new job. At 4 PM, just as she’s about to get ready to go home, she is approached by a woman wearing a very expensive Hillary Clinton-like pantsuit. The woman asks to have a word, and they sit down in a conference room. As the woman announces what she wants with the meeting, Leslie has a very strong flashback to when she was asked to run for councilwoman in Pawnee.

The woman says that she wants Leslie to run for President of the United States.

”Now, I know you just started this new job as Director, which is very important work, but we in the Democratic Party need someone to bring us together, bring the country together,” the woman says.

Leslie is astounded and speechless.

”Listen, here is my number. Take a few days to think it over, maybe reach a decision. Call me. We believe in you,” the woman continues. She then says goodbye and leaves the room.

Leslie is left alone sitting at the conference table, staring into space, shocked.

Eventually, Leslie brings herself together and drives home to her husband and kids. As she walks through the door she is greeted by Ben, adorably covered in flour, apparently working on a new calzone recipe. The kids are in the backyard, playing in the snow. Ben looks at Leslie and sees that something is the matter, asking, ”Are you alright? You look startled.”

Leslie gives him a sweet stroke on the cheek and says, ”Something happened at work. Everything went really well all day, and I already love the job. But by the end of the day, this woman came up to me, and guess what? She wants me to run for President. President of the United States.”

Ben: ”Are you serious? Honey, that’s so amazing!”

Ben gives her a warm, sincere hug which makes her smile widely.

”I can’t believe it,” she says and shakes her head joyfully. ”I don’t know if I can do it, and I know it’s a lot to ask of you and our family, and it’s going to be stressful and too much and very hard, but I really think I want to do this.”

Ben replies with, ”Of course you should do it. I don’t have a little statuette of the map of the U.S. or whatever to give you, but if I had one, I would.”

”I love you and I like you,” Leslie says and kisses him.

Ben replies with the same words, and they go outside to tell the kids the news.

 

The next day, Leslie calls the woman to tell her that she wants to run for President. As soon as she says the words, she realizes for sure that it’s the right thing to do. From that moment, things move very quickly. Leslie is given a campaign team headed by none other than April Ludgate. Leslie and April haven’t seen each other in months and Leslie hugs April tightly when they reunite. April has worked on different political campaigns already, and it has turned out that she has an amazing knack for it. When she heard that Leslie is running for President, she immediately made a phone call to apply to the position of Campaign Manager.

The next few days fly by in a flurry. Ben is working on setting up the restaurant and getting it to run smoothly, hiring chefs and designing a new menu. Leslie notifies the staff at the National Park Service that she is running for President, which is greeted with both cheers and applause, and sadness that she won’t stay on as Director for long. Leslie sheds a few tears during her speech:

”This was always my dream job, and I’m so happy for the opportunity, but this is just something I have to do. I hope I have your support.”

Later, she calls Ron Swanson to tell him the news. Ron is uncharacteristically very excited and even lets out a few _whoop whoop_ ’s during their conversation.

The rest of January flies by very quickly. April and the campaign team make plans for the campaign advertising and fundraising. Background checks are made on Leslie, and other than a pot brownie in college that turned out to have no pot in it, they find nothing. There’s nothing to stop her from running. Given the very long hours Leslie has to put into her campaign, the kids see little of her that January. They’re sad about it, but old enough to know that what their mom is doing is very important. Ben gives them ice-cream for dessert every evening that Leslie is at work late, as compensation.

However, one day Leslie decides that she needs to take a break from her campaign and spend some time with Ben and their kids. They spend an entire Wednesday outside in a park, eating hot dogs, building snowmen and ice-skating.

By the end of January, Leslie has attended four fundraisers and collected over 20 million dollars for her campaign.


	2. February, 2024

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galentine’s Day is celebrated, Ann visits, and Leslie has trouble with depression.

By mid-February, Ben’s ”Low-Cal Calzone Zone” is up and running and doing well, and he starts to delegate most of the work to his newly-hired manager. Leslie is growing in popularity in the country, thanks to April and the rest of the campaign team, and is approached by Vanity Fair for an interview and photoshoot. The day of the photoshoot, Leslie is nervous to have her picture taken but does very well and looks gorgeous and leader-like in the photos. In the article, they use the photo that April photoshopped years ago with a stylized picture of Leslie in red and blue, with the text ”KNOPE”. Only, this time, April has changed the text to ”VOTE KNOPE 2024”. The Leslie Knope issue of Vanity Fair sells out in two days. The Knope-Wyatt family are all super excited, Sonia in particular. The article is about Leslie’s politics, but also about her family and the love story of her and Ben. The documentary made during her years at the Parks and Recreation Department in Pawnee is republished, with bonus footage DVD’s being sold all over the world.

Leslie is ahead in the polls and has become a favorite for the Democratic candidate. One evening, Leslie rushes home from the campaign offices. They’ve invited April and Andy and their son Jack to dinner. Andy and Jack have flown in from the Ludgate-Dwyer home in New York City. April is only temporarily in D.C. for the campaign. Leslie comes home and helps out with dinner, very reluctantly making a tomato salad while Ben cooks a delicious stew.

After they’ve eaten and all the kids are playing in the living room, April and Leslie are excitedly talking about coming moves in the campaign when Ben interrupts them, saying, ”Maybe that’s enough shop talk for tonight. Andy, you want a beer in the kitchen?”

Andy and Ben walk into the kitchen.

”How are things in New York?” Ben says.

”They’re all right. I miss April like crazy sometimes, but I get that she needs to be here a lot right now.”

”Listen, I was thinking,” Ben goes on, ”How about you come work for me? You could be a co-manager at the restaurant, and you’d be closer to April that way. You guys could come live here full time.”

”The Low-Cal Calzone Zone???” Andy says with those puppy eyes.

”Yes,” Ben laughs.

As they reenter the dining room, Andy goes to talk with April about Ben’s proposition, and Leslie asks Ben if he asked Andy what he was going to ask. Leslie of course knew about the idea beforehand.

”Yeah, he seemed really excited about it,” Ben replies and kisses his wife.

It turns out that Andy accepts Ben’s offer to co-run the restaurant, and the Ludgate-Dwyers rapidly find a house and move to D.C.

Come February 13th, Leslie has arranged another Galentine’s Day. She has invited Ann Perkins and Donna Meagle. Donna runs a beauty company in Los Angeles called Treat Yo Self that makes perfumes, lotions, and other beauty products. Ann is Head Nurse at a clinic in downtown Chicago. Leslie has also invited her mother Marlene Griggs-Knope, who came all the way from Indiana. Also attending is April and, for the first time, Leslie and Ben’s daughter Sonia. They meet up at a restaurant for brunch and gifts. They have bacon, waffles and drinks. Leslie puts a lot of whipped cream on her Belgian waffles and drinks two mimosas. They have a great time and Leslie thinks it’s wonderful to see them all together again. ”Galentine’s!” they all shout as they clink their glasses together for a toast. ”Knope 2024!” April adds, and they all cheer.

The next day, on Valentine’s Day, Ben surprises Leslie with flowers at work and they make out in the copy room, still completely fallen for each other.

Ann stays in D.C. for a whole week in order to spend time with Leslie. Ann was initially going to stay at a hotel, but upon hearing that, Leslie had excitedly insisted that she stay at their house. So Ann stayed in the guest room. The two of them spend a particularly fun day together a couple of days after Galentine’s, walking around in the park in the biting cold. Ann and Chris split up just a few months ago. The split was amicable and they have no hard feelings toward one another. But it’s still a big change, and it’s difficult for their kids. On their walk, Ann pours her heart out to Leslie, talking about Chris and what happened between them.

On a very cold Saturday in February in D.C., there’s just one thing for Leslie to do, and that’s to stay in with her hummingbird husband and three kids. Since every day is special to Leslie, this Saturday is special too. More so because Leslie hasn’t had a day off from the campaign in what feels like forever, but realistically has only been a few weeks. They all play board games and watch a documentary about Martin Luther King. Things are calm, or, well, as calm as they can be in Leslie Knope’s household seeing as she is a bundle of energy. Come the evening, the triplets are allowed to stay up to watch ’Saturday Night Live’ at 11:30. The kids are spellbound and Leslie and Ben promises that they will go to New York City soon. Sonia was in New York once when she won the Indiana Spelling Bee and attended the final, and she loved the city. Ben had taken her to all the best places, historical and entertainment-related. Sonia had wanted to see an improv show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, but her father had claimed that she was too young and she had remained grumpy for a solid 15 minutes, a record for Sonia. Her brothers had been a little jealous, not of her winning the state’s spelling bee, but rather that she had been able to go to New York City.

The rest of February is a flurry for Leslie. She is so busy with her campaign that it’s almost too much work, even for her. Come the end of the month, Leslie finds herself spiralling into some sort of depression. This is new territory for her and she gets extremely scared. She doesn’t know how to handle this kind of thing. At home, she walks around in her ”I Hate Mondays” T-shirt, not bothering to do her hair or makeup. Ben is there for her best he can, but there isn’t much anyone can do to make her feel better. Ann gives her a pep talk on the phone, trying to help, all the while knowing that when it comes to depression, a pep talk really doesn’t do anything.


	3. March, 2024

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a televised debate with the Democratic candidates. Leslie has a breakdown and ends up in the hospital.

March starts out foggy and grey. Spring hasn’t quite made its way to Washington yet. The fogginess matches Leslie’s mood, which continues to be depressive. She walks around the campaign offices, not her usual self. Ben eventually suggests that she could benefit from going to a therapist to try to find out what’s wrong. They have a sweet conversation about it one night, and Leslie agrees that it might be a good idea. Leslie floats the idea to April, who also agrees and says that Leslie “isn’t herself and that something is wrong.” So Leslie makes an appointment with a recommended therapist and starts treatment. One Wednesday at the beginning of March, she heads from work to a 3 PM appointment at the therapist’s office. Leslie is surprised at how well it goes, and even though it’s just the first session, she leaves feeling a little bit better.

 

By March 15th, it’s time for a nation-wide debate with the other four Democratic candidates. The first is Gloria Dolly, a former policewoman who was elected to the Senate a few years ago. Ms. Dolly is from Wisconsin, where she grew up on a dairy farm. She makes an amicable and friendly impression on Leslie as they meet backstage before the debate. The second competing candidate is Roger Wells, a Wall Street guy with a stern impression and bad manners. Mr. Wells is, however, a good debater and makes for tough competition. Third is Hubert Pike, a Californian grape farmer who everyone is surprised to see run for President, given his light and somewhat goofy nature and apparent lack of experience with politics. Mr. Pike is, however, very benign compared to Roger Wells. And while Mr. Wells fares pretty well among right-wing voters, he is, according to Leslie and her campaign team, not at all the right candidate to represent the Democrats. The fourth competitor is Fiona Quills, a decent human and politician stemming from Seattle, where she worked as a human rights lawyer for many years before running for office at age 56. Leslie is very impressed with Ms. Quills and hopes that if she herself doesn’t win the Democratic nomination, Fiona Quills will.

 

After the debate, Leslie is very tired. She seeks out April, who has watched the whole thing from backstage. They talk about how it went. April compliments her on her matter-of-fact responses to the questions, but points out that she was a little quiet at times when she could have been talking back to Roger Wells’s dumb ideas.

“That guy seems like a real ass,” April finishes as she puts her pen behind her left ear. “I made some notes.”

Leslie is exhausted and only replies, “Yeah... Great, April. I’ll read them later.”

As soon as she said that, she feels a strong studden pain, like a severe headache or migraine. She grabs her head and sits down. She vaguely hears April say something, but can’t quite make it out. Suddenly, she passes out.

 

She wakes up in the hospital. Ben is there at her side, looking worried and cute at the same time. The sight of him comforts her. Ben sees that she has woken up.

Ben: “Hey, you’re up.”

Leslie: “What happened?”

Ben: “You passed out right after the debate was over and April called 911. You’re at the hospital, Sibley Memorial.”

He holds up a paper jar of something.

“I brought leftover chicken soup from last night. I also brought waffles. They’re not JJ’s Diner but I think they’re OK.”

Leslie smiles a genuine smile, replying, “I love how you always do that.”

“We gotta get you better, honey. I can’t stand to see you break down like this,” Ben says.

“I guess even I have my limits. There’s just been a lot going on for a long time now, “ Leslie replies and leans in for a kiss.

Ben kisses her back, a quick but sweet peck on the lips.

“I love you and I like you,” they say in unison.

 

“Remember you have that photoshoot on Wednesday,” April says to Leslie over a coffee break at the campaign offices.

“Can I show up wearing my ‘I Hate Mondays’ T-shirt? Otherwise I’m not doing it,” Leslie responds, taking a sip of her Ann-style coffee (topped with whipped cream).

“I know you’ve been going through a rough patch. We can skip it if you want.”

“April, you read my mind,” Leslie says and takes a bite of her cookie. “Can we cancel the photoshoot and just have a day off with the kids?”

“Absolutely.”

The day off turns out to be a blessing. Ben, Leslie, April and Andy and their kids all hang out in the park and barbeque hot dogs and relax. The beautiful spring sun is out, flower buds have started to pop up, and the air is fresh and clear. After that day off, Leslie feels refreshed. Later that night, Leslie and Ben sleep together and it’s amazing.

 

As March comes to an end, Leslie has seen her therapist three times and is making progress already. And even though the road to feeling like herself again might be long, she has started to feel hopeful again.


	4. April, 2024

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leslie cameos on Saturday Night Live. An old news story resurfaces.

At 11:30 PM on Saturday, April 6th 2024, in their house on north-eastern 33rd St in Washington, D.C., Ben, Wesley, Stephen and Sonia settle down in the living room to watch Saturday Night Live. Current cast members of the show include Clyde Peterson, an eager young brown-haired guy who loves physical comedy; Paula Pelles, a writer/improviser from Chicago who is gay and has fabulous dogs; Jeff Rushmore, a slightly annoying intellectual who makes up for it with brilliant comedic chops; and Ida Callish, a young improviser who first got hired on SNL as a writer and later found herself co-hosting Weekend Update with Humphrey Fey, a long-lost relative of legend Tina Fey.

 

The Knope-Wyatts are enjoying the episode, munching on popcorn and laughing loudly at the sketches. At around midnight, during one of the sketches, Leslie walks out on stage. She’s making a cameo on the show, having gained so much popularity around the country that Lorne Michaels had decided to give her a call a few days ago. The audience cheers loudly when they recognize Leslie, giving her a boost of confidence. In the sketch she’s playing a bartender wearing a grey T-shirt and a blazer. The writers have given her some great lines and the sketch is a huge success. Leslie leaves the stage come the commercial break, heading backstage to get a drink of water. She feels a little light-headed from all the excitement, but is having a really good time. Lorne Michaels approaches her and says that she did great. Leslie spends the rest of the show backstage, coming out on stage again for the goodnights at the end of the show. She gets to hug all the cast members, and is having the time of her life. Back in D.C., Ben is glowing with pride and their kids are extremely excited, all of them fans of the show.

 

Back at the campaign offices the coming Monday, Leslie is going through this week’s calendar, making little notes and circling important events. She is particularly excited and nervous about an interview she’s doing on 60 Minutes that is filming on Thursday. Come lunchtime, she and April are having lunch in the break room when a campaign staffer walks in, looking panicked. The staffer walks up to them, handing them a newspaper.

“Um…” she says, stammering.

“What’s the matter?” Leslie says.

“There’s, um, bad news in the paper.”

Leslie grabs the newspaper, suddenly nervous. She has been making progress with her therapist after her breakdown and the last thing she needs is bad news. She reads the headline: “LESLIE KNOPE’S HUSBAND RAN SMALL TOWN INTO BANKRUPTCY AS TEENAGER.” Leslie laughs.

“This again?” she says to the staffer. “Well, at least this headline is more professional than ‘Ice Town costs Ice Clown his Town Crown.’”

“Some people are upset about it. It’s becoming a news story. It’s all over CNN right now,” the staffer says and turns on the TV.

On CNN, a reporter says, “... And today’s breaking story, Democratic candidate for President Leslie Knope’s husband was in his teens elected mayor of a small city, proceeded to spend most of the town budget on something called “Ice Town,” and ran the city into the ground within months. More on this story as it develops.”

“They can’t be serious,” Leslie says, suddenly annoyed. “That was forever ago, and who doesn’t do dumb things at nineteen? I thought it was hilarious when I first heard about it.”

The staffer shrugs and says, “I guess they couldn’t find any bad things about you so they started reporting on this. Don’t be surprised if they bring it up during your interview on 60 Minutes.”

“Okay,” Leslie says, not too worried. “Thanks.”

The staffer leaves the break room.

April shrugs. “What are they gonna do? I don’t see how this affects anything for us.”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Leslie says and turns off the TV.

That evening, Ben and Leslie have a talk about the Ice Town news story.

“God, I hope I’m not ruining anything for you with that stupid thing I did forever ago,” Ben says.

Leslie gives him a hug and kisses him.

Leslie: “I can’t imagine how you could.”

Ben: “I love you.”

Leslie smiles and kisses him again. “I love you too, Ice Clown.”

 

In the middle of April, Kenilworth Park near their neighborhood is particularly gorgeous, and Ben and Leslie take the kids there one Friday afternoon to feed the swans some bird seeds and spend time together. It’s still so cold that they need mittens and wool hats, but the sun is shining stronger day by day. Sonia announces that she wants to go to New York again. She brings up the fact that they’re doing a revival of her favorite musical and she has to see it. Sonia has been listening the Original Broadway Cast Recording of the musical for months and is slightly obsessed with it, the way kids can get. The musical she’s talking about is Mean Girls, which first opened on Broadway in 2018. For the revival, Tina Fey is joining the cast, reprising her role from the movie as Ms. Norbury the math teacher. This hugely excites Sonia, who has been a fan of Tina Fey’s since she was old enough to understand her jokes. She often spends evenings after school watching old segments of Weekend Update, episodes of 30 Rock, or clips of interviews that Fey have been in. Leslie says that they will go as soon as possible, but is also honest about the fact that they might not be able to go until after the election in November. This makes Sonia a little sad, so Ben cheers her up by saying, “I promise we will go, maybe we can go for you guys’ birthday, I’m sure Stephen and Wesley will want to go to New York too. Right, guys?” he adds to Stephen and Wesley.

Wesley looks up from his Harry Potter book and Stephen stops throwing bird seeds.

“Can we go?”

“That would be awesome!”

Leslie smiles and confirms that they can go in December.


End file.
